Will These Commissioners Be Denied the Right to Open Their Meetings with a Prayer?

2015 politics SupremeCourt Reuters
Share:

This week, along with The Gibbs Law Firm and Alliance Defending Freedom, Liberty Institute and its high-profile volunteer attorney—Allyson Ho, the only female lawyer who has argued two cases in the last Supreme Court of the United States’ term—filed a brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in the case of Lund v. Rowan County, defending the right of the Rowan County, North Carolina commissioners to open their meetings in prayer after the prayer was challenged by The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “PART OF OUR HERITAGE AND TRADITION” For many years, the Rowan County Commissioners opened their meetings with legislation prayer—an activity, as described by Supreme Court Justice Kennedy in his opinion in Galloway v. Town of Greece, that “has become part of our heritage and tradition, part of our expressive idiom, similar to the Pledge of Allegiance, inaugural prayer, or the recitation of ‘God save the United States and this honorable Court’ at the opening of this Court’s sessions.” Rowan County allowed each commissioner, on a rotating basis, an opportunity to offer an invocation or lead a moment of silence at the beginning of each commissioners’ session—which also includes a call to order and the Pledge of Allegiance. Each commissioner decided whether to open with a moment of silence or a prayer (of which the content was also his or her decision). No one was required to participate in the invocation. They could remain seated, leave the room, or arrive after invocation. But in March 2013 on behalf of three Rowan County residents, the ACLU objected to the invocations. After a two-year legal battle, a federal court ruled that the Rowan County Board of Commissioners violated the Constitution with their prayer practice before meetings. Liberty Institute and its allied attorneys are now appealing this ruling. “We are honored that someone of Allyson Ho’s reputation and accomplishment is leading this appeal for our client,” says Hiram Sasser, Liberty Institute Deputy Chief Counsel. “Her extensive experience before the United States Supreme Court is impressive and extremely helpful on this issues.” Ms. Ho is nationally recognized as a “superstar appellate lawyer” as noted in Chambers and Partners. After earning a Ph.D. from Rice University and a J.D. from University of Chicago Law School, Ms. Ho clerked for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and currently serves on the bipartisan Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee. Most recently, Ms. Ho served as lead counsel in Liberty Institute’s successful defense of the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial in San Diego, California. LEGISLATIVE PRAYERS DO NOT OFFEND THE ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE In its 52-page brief, Liberty Institute asserts that the legislative prayers offered by the county commissioners do not offend the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment under Chambers v. Marsh and Galloway v. Town of Greece—but resolve this case and require a reversal.

  • Chambers v. MarshIn 1983, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Nebraska Legislature’s practice of opening its sessions with prayer by a chaplain paid by the State did not violate the Establishment Clause.
  • Galloway v. Town of Greece—In 1984, the United States Supreme Court ruled that governmental bodies may open their meetings in prayer—delivered by local, volunteer clergy—without violating the Establishment Clause, including prayers with specific religious references.

Liberty Institute applies the rulings of these two cases further in three key points of its argument:

  1. Opening legislative meetings with prayer does not violate the Establishment Clause.

The plaintiffs challenged the contents of the prayers that opened and solemnized the Rowan County Commission’s meetings. But the Supreme Court, in Galloway v. Greece, held that opening town meetings with faith-specific prayers does not violate the Establishment Clause. Once the Supreme Court decided Greece, this should have been an easy case to resolve in Rowan County’s favor. The district court reversibly erred in concluding that Rowan County’s legislative prayer practice falls outside of Greece and Marsh merely because legislators deliver the prayers. As the Supreme Court explained in Greece, it is perfectly permissible for legislative prayer to “reflect the values [legislators] hold as private citizens,” and “an opportunity for them to show who and what they are.”

  1. The county’s legislative prayers do not fall outside of Marsh and Greece and cannot be viewed as “coercive.” In Greece, the Supreme Court clarified that legislative prayers are constitutional so long as they do not “over time” show that the invocations “denigrate nonbelievers or religious minorities, threaten damnation, or preach conversion” … The district court did not identify a single prayer—let alone a pattern of prayers over time—that denigrate[d] nonbelievers or religious minorities, threaten[ed] damnation, or preach[ed] conversion.” … Plaintiffs were simply asked to stand for the opening ceremony—including the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance—and, as Justice Kennedy anticipated in Greece, and the record establishes here, plaintiffs were not required to participate in the invocation.
  2. Marsh and Greece affirm a tradition of legislative prayer.

The Supreme Court’s ruling in Greece quotes Marsh and asserts that “‘in light of the unambiguous and unbroken history of more than 200 years,there can be no doubt that the practice of opening legislative sessions with a prayer has become part of the fabric of our society.'” The Rowan County commissioners’ opening prayers are part of the tradition of legislative prayer affirmed in Marsh and Greece, and the district court’s contrary judgment should be reversed. Any other result requires the banning of prayer proclamations by all elected officials, including mayors, governors and the President of the United States. FIGHTING BACK AGAINST INCREASING ANTI-FAITH EFFORTS The law is on the side of religious freedom, and that’s why Liberty Institute wants to help Rowan County commissioners and other localities fight back and win the battle to protect public religious expressions of faith—including, among others:

For more information about Liberty Institute’s legal services or to request legal help, visit www.libertyinstitute.org/take-action/request-legal or call (972) 941-4444.

+ posts
Share:

Related topics:

See an error in this article?

Send us a correction

To contact us or to submit an article

Click and play our featured shows

Watch This Stunning Mother’s Day Musical Tribute

https://youtu.be/tdgn1N4ILxM How about a little music to accompany that Mother’s Day breakfast in bed or brunch out with the family? Breaking news, Spirit-filled stories. Subscribe to Charisma on YouTube now! Check out this special moms’ version of “Isn’t She Lovely”...

Why My Mother Is My Proverbs 31 Shero

For many years, especially on Mother’s Day, I have meditated on the virtuous woman from Scripture, found in the book of Proverbs, Chapter 31. I have admired many women who fit the pattern of the Proverbs 31 woman. My mother,...

Benny Hinn’s Public Apology: ‘I Am Sorry’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2DyhGQcegQ Amid controversy as a recent four-hour-long video by Mike Winger has come out showcasing the past pitfalls of Benny Hinn’s ministry, Hinn has publicly come out to make his statement about his prior ministry mishaps. “I’m a human being....

How You Can Help Heal a Deeply Divided America

The young 25-year-old Methodist preacher and revivalist George Whitefield arrived in America in 1738 with a prayer on his heart that the inhabitants of this land would “No longer live as 13 divided Colonies but as One Nation under God.”...

This Mother’s Day, Celebrate the Power of a Praying Mom

American Heritage Girls, one of the world’s largest Christian scout-type organizations, is proud to offer biblically sound advice for girl moms as they raise their daughters after God’s own heart. Breaking news, Spirit-filled stories. Subscribe to Charisma on YouTube now! “Girls...

Top of the Week: Benny Hinn Breaks Silence Amid Controversy

https://youtu.be/CttP6Ll2o0w Following are snippets of the top stories posted over the past week on charismanews.com. We encourage you to visit the links to read the stories in full. Benny Hinn Breaks Silence Amid Controversy https://youtu.be/f2DyhGQcegQ Pastor. Preacher. Author. Charlatan. Evangelist Benny...

Jenny Weaver: Breaking the Curse of ‘I’m a Bad Mom’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVjoymPCJo0 As a mother herself, revivalist, worship leader and author Jenny Weaver wants all mothers to know they are not a “bad mom.” They are not a failure as a parent in the eyes of Jesus. In this interview with Charisma News’...

Benny Hinn: Should He Repent?

https://youtu.be/f2DyhGQcegQ Should Benny Hinn repent? It’s the question people have been asking for years. While Hinn has publicly apologized for the moments he says he got things wrong in ministry, there are still skeptics about his motives. In an exclusive...

Stop Eating Spiritual Junk Food

“You shall keep My statutes. You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind. You shall not sow your field with mixed seed. Nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you” (Lev. 19:19, NKJV). For...

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 97 98 99 100
Scroll to Top